This invention is related to stringed instruments, such as violins, having a sound box connected to a string-supporting, neck and more particularly to a violin having a wooden dowel disposed in the neck block and the neck to reinforce the joint between the neck and the sound box against forces applied by the string means.
String instruments, such as the violin family, have strings stretched along a neck and finger board, between the sound box and the neck. The sound produced by the instrument is, in part, determined by the tautness of the strings. Higher pitched sound is produced by increasing the tautness of the strings. However, the strings apply a substantial force tending to bend the neck about its joint with the sound box. Over a period of time the tightened strings gradually weaken the glued joint between the neck block and the neck. This force amounts to about 66 pounds of pull. The strings also apply pressure to the belly board and influence its vibration characteristics.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,841,398 which issued to Bergh on Jan. 19, 1931, teaches of a practice violin having a neck connected to the sound box. Bergh employs a metal bolt for securing the body of the sound box to the neck. However, a metal bolt substantially influences the tones produced by the sound box.